The problems of eradicating Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are not only medical, but also linked “to a variety of political and social factors”, the head of the UN mission in the country told the Security Council.

The second worst Ebola outbreak of all time, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was officially declared an international Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Wednesday, with the head of the World Health Organization calling for countries to ‘take notice and redouble our efforts”.

“In DRC there was long experience with Ebola – this was the seventh outbreak of the disease here. The country had the knowledge and the people needed to stop an outbreak – plus strong technical assistance and support from WHO,” says Dr Joseph Waogodo Cabore, WHO Representative to DRC. “It is an impressive achievement, considering that overall, the country’s health system has serious weaknesses.”

Last week, WHO officials reported suspected cases surfacing in Lubumbashi, Katanga and Goma in DR Congo's eastern North Kivu Province, while having samples sent to a South African laboratory for examination. WHO was informed on Tuesday that the samples had been tested negative, keeping DR Congo off the list of countries being hit by the novel flu virus.

Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said an outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever, which claimed the lives of 21 of the 26 people infected in the Kasai Occidental province, is now over.

Health specialists agree that surveillance and monitoring of an Ebola epidemic have to be maintained, despite falls in the numbers of people affected in the province of Kasai Occidental in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Measures have been taken to prevent the spread of Ebola following the deaths of at least 160 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern province of Kasai Occidental during the past two months, President Joseph Kabila said.

At least 160 people have died in an outbreak of the highly lethal haemorrhagic Ebola virus in the centre of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today, announcing that it is rushing medical and supplies to the region to try to contain the disease.